Giorgia Meloni, Italy's prime minister, meets Rishi Sunak in Rome on Saturday. Photo: Reuters/Remo Casilli
Hostile states will increasingly “drive people onto our shores” to destabilize Western countries unless leaders stop cracking down on illegal migration and change asylum conventions, Rishi Sunak has said.
Speaking in Italy, the Prime Minister said insufficient action would lead to growing numbers of people “overwhelming our countries and our ability to help those who need our help most.”
Amid constant Pressure from his own MPs to stop the flow of boats across the English Channel, Mr Sunak warned that failure to tackle illegal migration would “undermine public trust” in politicians and governments.
In the event of No Action, he added, “our enemies will see how unable we are to deal with this, and so they will increasingly use migration as a weapon: deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilize our society.”
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Mr Sunak was speaking at a festival organized by Georgia Meloni's populist Brothers of Italy party in Rome, trying to convince conservative right-wing and Conservative voters that his legislation in Rwanda would be enough to ensure the start of deportation flights and prevent future illegal Channel crossings. The controversial bill is due to return to the Commons in January when the Prime Minister faces the threat of a major uprising.
It was revealed that 292 migrants crossed the English Channel in seven boats on Friday. One person has died after the ship sank while en route to the UK.
Mr Sunak's legislation would repeal parts of the Human Rights Act to help prevent further legal challenges that could block flights to Rwanda. Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, separately warned that the courts had lowered the threshold for asylum claims under the UN Refugee Convention.
Mr Sunak's intervention suggests he is now prepared to seek a review of the Convention UN on the status of refugees. such conventions are part of its efforts to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel to seek asylum.
His warning about hostile states “driving people to our shores” came as Finland, which shares an 800-mile border with Russia, accused Moscow of deliberately sending Middle Eastern migrants to the European Union to destabilize the bloc.
< p> In the past, Poland has accused Belarus of encouraging migrants from the Middle East and Africa to move to Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions against the government of Alexander Lukashenko.
In further signs of pressure on the Prime Minister, The Telegraph can point out that more than 40 MPs, including Liz Truss, Suella Braverman, Sir John Hayes and Jonathan Gallis, have written to Mr Sunak, urging him to stop trying to impose a “shortened” selection process for potential MPs, which they fear could sideline potential candidates from the right-wing party.
Also in a private newspaper seen by this newspaper, Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, warned that Downing Street must “wake up” to the fact that the Conservatives are being “outflanked” on the right by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor Party.
Mr Sunak's warning that migrants could “overwhelm” some European countries appeared to recall Margaret Thatcher's remark in 1978 that members of the public feared they might be “likely to be swamped by people of a different culture”.
Ms Meloni and Mr Sunak were joined by Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania. Photo: Getty/Isabella Bonotto 
Mr Sunak praised Ms Meloni's “conviction and determination”. Photo: Getty/Isabella Bonotto
It echoes concerns raised by some Conservative Party members, as well as sentiments captured by party strategists in voter focus groups.
Mr Sunak said: “If we don't tackle this problem, the numbers will only get higher . It will crush our countries and our ability to help those who truly need our help most. The cost of housing these people will anger our citizens, who will not understand why their money has to be spent on fighting the consequences of this evil trade.
“It will destroy not only the faith of the public, but also the trust of the public. not just in us as politicians, but in our very systems of government.”
In an interview with The Telegraph last week, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, criticized the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Treasury's handling of increased migration “as a boon to the economy,” for failing to weigh “real pressures.” a growing population is prioritizing the NHS, schools and the property market.
'Hurricane of mass migration'
Ms Braverman was criticized for describing the flow of migrants across the English Channel as an “invasion of our south coast”. In October, she warned of a “storm” of mass migration heading to the UK.
Mr Sunak said there was a need for world leaders to harness Thatcher's “radicalism and tenacity” in tackling illegal migration. He said both he and Ms Meloni, who had worked together for several months, were “determined to disrupt the business model” of these criminal trafficking rings.
He added: “If this will require us to update our laws and have an international dialogue on amending the post-war asylum framework, we must do this.
“Because if we don't solve this problem now, the boats will continue to come and much more. lives will be lost at sea.”
Mr Sunak and Ms Meloni, who championed the UK's deal with Rwanda, have worked together to tackle illegal migration.
The Prime Minister believes Rwanda-style agreements to process asylum claims in the third countries are key to reducing illegal arrivals, along with return agreements such as the one struck between the UK and Albania to speed up deportations. illegal migrants.
Mr Sunak said: “Our opponents just want to ignore this issue. They want to bury their heads in the sand and hope it goes away.”
In September, Ms Braverman warned in a speech in the US that some 780 million people would be eligible to claim asylum without radical reform of global rules in on refugees.
Number 10 said that after talks on Saturday, Mr Sunak and Ms Meloni agreed to jointly fund a project in which both countries would “promote and assist voluntary returns”. » migrants who are currently stuck in Tunisia.
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